– The Ijaw Youths
Congress warned the President Muhammadu Buhari against arresting former
president Goodluck Jonathan – The group
criticized the Buhari administration for limiting its anti-corruption campaign
only to the Jonathan regime – Udengs Eradiri, the president of IYC, urged the
federal government to investigate the Halliburton bribery case under
ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo – Tony Uranta, a prominent rights activist,
called on Buhari to reassure Niger Delta youths that the amnesty programme
would not be cancelled
The Ijaw Youths Congress
(IYC) has warned the President Muhammadu Buhari against arresting former president
Goodluck Jonathan over the ongoing probe of arms procurement and embezzlement
that allegedly took place under his administration. The Punch reports that the
youths gathered on Thursday, May 26,
at the Wellington Hotel Effurrun in Delta
state for the 2016 annual Major Isaac Boro anniversary celebration with the
theme “The ideals of Adaka Boro and the renewed militancy in the Niger Delta:
The way forward.” Speaking on behalf of the IYC, its president, Udengs Eradiri
criticized the Buhari administration for limiting its anti-corruption campaign
only to the Jonathan regime. He called on the federal government to investigate
the Halliburton bribery case under former president Olusegun Obasanjo, if it
wanted Nigerians to take its anti-corruption crusade seriously. READ ALSO:
Controversy: This is when we will invite Jonathan – EFCC Commenting on the
renewed militancy and recent attacks in the Niger Delta region, Udengs said
that the opening of the Maritime University in Okerenkoko, Delta state, for
academic activities was the first condition for a roundtable discussion with
the federal government towards ending ongoing militants’ onslaught in the
region. “People have started discussing. There was a meeting in Abuja yesterday
(Wednesday) but I told them that such a meeting would not work. “If they want
us to talk, they must first open the Maritime University and start admitting
students, then we would now sit and talk. The same issues for which Adaka Boro
and Ken Saro-Wiwa were killed are the same issues the Avengers are raising.
“There are no Avengers anywhere. Settle these issues and the avengers would
fizzle away,” he said. READ ALSO: Niger Delta Avengers: Federal government team
meets militant leaders Also speaking, Tony Uranta, a prominent rights activist,
said: “Isaac Boro and Ken Saro-Wiwa died fighting for the emancipation of the
Niger Delta, later we had Asari Dokubo, Tompolo and others. But because Tompolo
was taken out, new faces have come up.” Uranta advised Buhari to reassure Niger
Delta youths that the amnesty programme would not be cancelled, adding that
there were many beneficiaries who had not gone on training yet. He warned the
president that the cancellation of the programme would further throw the region
into another rounds of militancy which would negatively affect the economy.
Earlier this week, Jonathan was attacked by the Movement for the Emancipation
of the Niger Delta (MEND) for running the nation aground and “pauperizing the
Nigerian people to the alarming degree”. While distancing itself from the Niger
Delta Avengers, MEND stressed that the sudden emergence of the militant group
has absolutely nothing to do with the Niger Delta struggle. According to the
group, it was a ploy by certain elements
to destabilise the present Buhari government.
